FOOD INSECURITY IS SURGING WITH STATE UNEMPLOYMENT
Greater Boston Food Bank rallies support
An estimated 650,000 people in eastern Massachusetts — nearly the population of Boston — aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the nonprofit that oversees 200 U.S. food banks.
The food-insecurity rate in Massachusetts has increased 53% since before the pandemic, according to Feeding America. One in 7 people are expected to not have access to enough food for three healthy meals a day, and 1 in 5 children in Massachusetts now live in food-insecure households, an increase of 81% over pre-COVID-19 food-insecurity levels. The jobless rate in Massachusetts also hit 16.1% last month, the highest in the country.
Catherine Drennan of the Greater Boston Food Bank said September is “Hunger Action Month” — time to rally support around these issues.
“With so many critical policy changes around economic relief and nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals being considered by Congress and the administration, September is the perfect time to take action in support of the thousands of people across our state that face hunger, some for the very first time,” Drennan said. “We’re calling on Congress and the administration to pass the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation, including investments and policies that boost our federal nutrition programs and ensure consistent access to school meals.”
To highlight the surge of food insecurity in Eastern Massachusetts due to the pandemic, on Tuesday, Feeding America and the Greater
Boston Food Bank will launch a monthlong social media campaign asking people to take action to end hunger by volunteering, donating or sharing information about hunger on social media with the hashtags and tags #HungerActionMonth, #EndHungerHere, @gr8BosFoodBank and @Feeding America.
“Combatting food insecurity has been a priority for our administration since before the pandemic, and throughout this outbreak we have continued to focus on helping families put food on the table, investing $56 million toward food-security priorities recommended by our Food Security Task Force,” Gov. Charlie Baker said. “We are committed to partnering with community organizations to ensure people across Massachusetts have access to healthy and nutritious food.”
When the pandemic broke, two nonprofits, World Central Kitchen and Off Their Plate, teamed up and
used donations to pay struggling restaurants in the Boston area to cook meals for front-line workers.
In June, as things began to stabilize at some hospitals, the organizations shifted their focus to communitybased hunger, delivering meals to locations including the Boys & Girls Club of Chelsea, the Malden YMCA and Food for Free in Cambridge, said Andrew Crispin of World Central Kitchen.
Since then, World Central Kitchen has served more than 40,000 meals in the Boston area, and Off Their Plate has served more than 200,000 since March.
Over the last two months, the latter has delivered 1,200 meals a week to Tracy Sylven to distribute in Hyde Park, Mattapan, Dorchester and Jamaica Plain.
One of the locations is a driveway in Hyde Park that, in the beginning of the pandemic, served as a COVID19 testing site.
“I said I think we should also make food available to people,” said Sylven, director of community health at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. “We do a needs assessment of the community, so we knew there was food insecurity before COVID. We also understand that a pandemic would compound that.”
On Friday, she stood in that same driveway with a “Free Food” sign she had made and taped to the trunk door of her SUV, handing out 300 hot lunches prepared by TamBo’s Kitchen in Avon through Off Their Plate.
“I appreciate a hot meal when I can get it, and sometimes I’ll bring a couple back for people in my building who can’t get here,” Pat Lombardi, 77, said as he stood in line with a half-dozen other people. “It’s really the thought of it, that there are people out there who are thinking about us.”
Francisca Ramirez, 76, of Hyde Park, sat in a wheelchair as her son Frank Chaparro took a bagful of meals from Sylven and thanked her.
“My mother gets only $100 a month in food stamps to live on,” said Chaparro, 46, who lives with his mother and works as her personal care assistant. “So without this, I’d have to beg.”